Women's curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 6 round-up: Sweden and Switzerland close in on semi-finals as Team GB beat Japan
Great Britain breathe life into their semi-final hopes with a resounding victory over Japan while the United States fall to a successful late comeback by Switzerland
Curling
Switzerland and Sweden are one step closer to booking their places in women’s curling semi-finals at Beijing 2022 after posting wins against United States and Denmark respectively on Tuesday (15 February).
The Swiss world champs surged to a 9-6 victory over Team USA after they flipped a two-point deficit into a two-point lead following a stunning four-point ninth end.
When US skip Tabitha Peterson’s final throw hit her own guard at the top the house, all she and her rink could do was watch as Swiss fourth Alina Paetz delivered a perfect takeout to give her rink four points and a new lead heading into the final end.
From there, it was an uphill battle for the Americans who tried desperately to generate a three-point game to take the win.
On her final throw Paetz had Switzerland lying three and left Peterson the near-impossible task of producing the two-points needed to, at least, force an extra end.
In the end it was Switzerland who got the steal, and with it the match win.
Buoyed by their clutch win yesterday, Sweden doubled down on their medal intentions with a 9-3 blistering win over Denmark in seven ends.
The Danes, already eliminated from medal match contention, were blown out of the water near-enough from the get-go after the Swedes followed a two-point end with a three-point steal to sit 5-1 up after three ends.
The defending Olympic champions then extended their lead with another three-point end in the fifth to go 8-2 up at the halfway stage.
After an exchange of one-point ends Denmark chose to concede the match handing Sweden the victory. The Olympic champions now move 5-2 to sit comfortably in second, behind Switzerland, in the round-robin standings with two matches left to play.
Beijing 2022 women's curling round up: Team GB give life to playoff hopes with victory over Japan
“We need to take every game from now as if it’s the final,” said Great Britain’s skip Eve Muirhead to Olympics.com ahead of her rink’s clash against PyeongChang 2018 bronze medallists Japan.
If that means playing your best curling when it counts then the Britons surely did as they thrashed Japan 10-4 to keep their semi-final hopes alive and well.
Team GB got off to a storming start posting two three-point ends to sit 6-1 after the conclusion of the third.
Japan, who beat GB four years ago to the bronze in South Korea, wrestled hard to seize back control and at the end of the sixth they had cut the deficit to three, sitting behind 7-4.
However, a decisive two-point steal retrieved by Muirhead in the eighth ended any hopes of a late Japanese comeback and so Fujisawa Satsuki conceded the game.
Elsewhere, ROC posted their first in the 'Ice Cube' defeating People’s Republic of China: 11-5.
Though both teams are no longer mathematically within shot of top four both will play decisive roles in determining which of the chasing pack will bid for a medal.
Britain face the hosts and ROC in their last two round-robin matches while Sochi 2014 champions Canada have the US, China and Denmark left to play.
Women’s curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 6 results in full:
- ROC 11-5 People's Republic of China
- Sweden 9-3 Denmark
- Switzerland 9-6 United States of America
- Great Britain 10-4 Japan
You can find the round robin standings after today’s action here.
Schedule: Women's curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 7
Here is the schedule for Wednesday 16 February (all times local China Standard Time):
- 09:05 Women's Round Robin Session 10 - Canada v United States
- 09:05 Women's Round Robin Session 10 - Switzerland v Republic of Korea
- 09:05 Women's Round Robin Session 10 - People's Republic of China v Great Britain
- 20:05 Women's Round Robin Session 11 - Republic of Korea v Denmark
- 20:05 Women's Round Robin Session 11 - Japan v United States of America
- 20:05 Women's Round Robin Session 11 - ROC v Sweden
- 20:05 Women's Round Robin Session 11 - Canada v People's Republic of China
A reminder that the teams that finish in the top four after the round-robin competition will compete in semi-finals with the two winners advancing to the gold medal match.